If your from the UK and in the construction and heavy machinery industry you will know the Bobcat skid steer brand, The story behind the company dates back to 1958 when the Melroe Manufacturing Company, located in North Dakota, USA, decided to start a new venture and soon they became the owner of the production rights for the Keller Loaders, which was a small three-wheel machine. The engineers at Melroe decided to develop the machine and created a new and improved design. Their effort resulted in the M400 – a four-wheel drive machine, introduced in 1960, which happened to be the first skid-steer wheel loader in the world. Little did they know, this machine would pave the road to a whole new industry – for compact construction equipment.
THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND
The improved version of the machine was introduced a couple of years later. The M440 was called a ‘Bobcat’ for the first time. The name suggestion came from a Melroe associate who saw the connection between the animal’s agility, speed and toughness and the characteristics of the machine. The bobcat is able to turn 180°while running at maximum speed, which is a striking similarity to the wheel loader’s capabilities. This was the birth of the Bobcat brand. The M444 model replaced the existing one in the following year and it was launched on the European market.
The distinctive cathead logo we all know today was introduced in 1977 by Melroe.
Bobcat decided to enter the excavator market in the 80s, and by 1988 the first two models were ready. The company was actually the one of the only to produce excavators in North America for 25 years in a row.
All the products were developed and added to the company portfolio one at a time, and the main factor for their existence was the company’s progressive expansion to the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East, Africa). This was crucial for the company’s rapid growth and Bobcat became one of the biggest producers of compact equipment in the world.
NEW BUILD FACILITY
A major step for the company – a new Bobcat production facility was opened outside of the U.S. for the first time in Bobcat’s history. The plant was set up in the center of the EMEA region – in the town of Dobris, located south of Prague in the Czech Republic. The facility which assembles telehandlers in the Loire-Atlantique region France and this new plant in Dobris really improved Bobcat’s presence in Europe and helped the company to further develop its design and procurement. The two plants enable the company to produce locally more than 80% of the machines they sell at all the EMEA markets.
The company has been going strong since it was established and the Bobcat loaders can be seen all around the world. There are a lot more than a million of them made for 60 years of production. The Bobcat loader transformed the world and became an icon, not to mention making the company highly successful – it never really stopped growing. New products and features have been introduced and added to the company portfolio over the years. Bobcat now offers a lot more than just the signature skid-steer loader. The product range includes compact excavators, track and wheel loaders (skid-steer and all-wheel steer versions are available), backhoe loaders, telehandlers, compact rotary telescopics and a number of attachments and option for optimizing these machines’ capabilities.
Find your common Bobcat machine parts here : Plant Spares Online
Search your bobcat part number here : | Digger & Forklift Parts UK – Specialists In Parts & Spares For Construction Machinery (diggerspares.co.uk)